Apparatus for producing composite yarn



April 6, 1965 w. R.'KEEN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITE YARN 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 6, 1963 mam/2W2; 152811, BY

Gila @J April 6, 1965 w. R. KEEN 3,176,351

ARATUS FOR PRODUCING COMPO Filed Sept. 6, 1963 s Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

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April 1965 w. R. KEEN 3,176,351

FOR P D Filed Sept. 6, 1963 '3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTO BY 62A: 62A)APPARATUS FUR PRODUCING COMPUSITE YARN Wiiliain Rollin Keen, Media, Pm,assignor to Coiiins an Aikmau Corporation, New York, N321, a corporationof Delaware Filed Sept. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 307,232 7 Claims. (Cl. 19-236)This invention relates to apparatus for producing a composite yarn.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide means forproducing a composite yarn in which alternate lengthwise sections of theyarn consist of fibers having diiferent characteristics from those ofthe other alternate sections.

Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus for producing acontinuous yarn of which a first section includes fibers having a firstcharacteristic followed by a section of yarn which includes fibershaving a second characteristic, followed in turn by a section of yarnwhich includes fibers of the first type, and so on alternatingly. At thejunctions of the sections, an overlap condition exists and the yarnincludes fibers of both characteristics.

The fibers of the successive sections of the composite yarn may bedifferent in their natural characteristics, or they may be merelydiiferent in that they have been predyed to different colors or todifferent shades of the same color. The fibers of one series ofalternate sections may, for example, be natural, such as cotton, and thefibers of the other alternate sections may be synthetic, such as cut orbroken acetate rayon staple. Or, the fibers of both series of sectionsmay be synthetic. For example, one

series of alternate sections may be nylon staple and the succeedingseries of alternate sections may be Orion staple. Or, the differentsections may be different blends of fibers. In brief, the presentinvention is not limited by any specific fibers or combination of fibersnormally used in making spun yarn.

My invention will be clear from a consideration of the followingdetailed description, taken together with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective illustration of apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the gate rollers employedin the apparatus of the present invention;

FIGS. 3-6 are diagrammatic perspective illustrations, partly brokenaway, showing successive actions of the gate rollers;

FIGS. 7-12 are diagrammatic side elevations showing successive actionsof the gate rollers;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are greatly enlarged diagrammatic illustrations of thejunction points identified in FIGS. 4 and 6, respectively, by thecircles XIII and XIV;

FIGS. 15 and 1 6 are greatly enlarged diagrams to illustrate the mergingof the fibers at the junction points identified in FIG. 1 by the circlesXV and XVI, respectively;

FIG. 17 is a perspective illustrationof a modification of the apparatusof FIG. 1, and;

FIGS. 18 and 19 are diagrammatic top views looking down along the linesXVIII and XIX of FIGS. 1 and 17, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the reference numerals 21 and 22 identify twosupply bobbins of twisted roving or sliver the fibers of which differfrom each other in some way. For convenience in explaining the presentinvention, the fibers of bobbin 21 will be assumed to have been pro-dyedblack and the fibers of bobbin 22 will be United States Patent 3,176,351Patented Apr. 6, 1965 assumed to be white. In actual practice, in manyinstances, the fibers of bobbin 21 will be of one type, such as cotton,while the fibers of bobbin 22 will be of another type, for example, cutor broken synthetic staple, such as acetate or nylon or Dacron. It willbe understood that, so far as the present invention is concerned, theonly requirement is that the fibers of the two bobbins 21 and 22 bedifferent in some significant characteristic.

In FIG. 1, the black sliver 23 and the white sliver 24 are shown to bepassed over a guide bar 25 and then in converging manner between upperand lower gate rollers 25 and 27 into a converging device represented inFIG. 1 as a trumpet 28. The output of the trumpet 28 is a compositesliver 34 which is fed to a conventional drafting stage comprising apair of feed-in rolls 29 and 30 followed by a pair of delivery rolls 31and 32. A conventional apron 4-3 and tension roller 44 may be providedin the drafting stage between the feed-in rolls29, 3t) and the deliveryrolls 31, 32. The drafted composite sliver 34 delivered from thedelivery rolls 31, 32 is passed through an eye 35 and thence to a rovingframe, or a drafting frame, or to a spinning frame as represented inFIG. 1 by the bobbin 36.

The rollers 26 and 27 are referred to herein as gate rollers since theserollers function as a gate in that they determine whether or not theslivers 23, 24 presented thereto pass therethrough. The lower roller 27is a conventional one-piece cylindrical roller, but the upper roller 26is a two-part roller having complementary parts 26a and 26]; which form,with lower roller 27, a dual gate, the one gate being open when theother is closed, and vice versa. For additional clarity, the two-partupper roller 26 is shown by itself in perspective in FIG. 2.

Each of the roller parts 26aand 26b of rollerJ26 has an angular sectorwhich is of full diameter;the remainder of each roller part 26:: and 26bis of reduced diameter. The full-diameter sector may occupy about of thetotal periphery. As already indicated, the fulldiameter sectors of thetwo parts 26a and 26b are complementary. This is seen clearly in FIGS.7-12 where FIGS. 7, 9 and 11 are diagrammatic elevational views showingroller part 26a in three angular positions, and FIGS. 8, l0 and 12 arecorresponding views of roller part 26b. For example, when part 2611 isin the angular position shown in FIG. 7, part 26b is in the angularposition shown in FIG. 8. The same relationship applies to FIGS. 9 and10; also to-FIGS. l1 and 12.

As clearly illustrated in FIGS. 7-12, the two-partvupper gate roller 26is so spaced above the lower roller 27 that when the roller 26 is drivenrotationally to the angular position shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the fulldiameter potrion of part 26a will engage the peripheral surface, of thelower roller 27, whereas the reduced diameter portion of part 26b willbe above and will clear the peripheral surface of the roller 27, leavinga space therebetween. Similarly, when the upper roller 26 is in theangular position shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the full diameter portion ofpart 26b will engage the lower roller 27- while/the reduced diameterportion of part 26a will clear roller .27.

The distance between the nip of the gate rollers .26 and 27 and the nipof thefeed-in rolls 29 and 34) may be varied, similar to the manner inwhich the ratch between the feed-in rolls and delivery rolls may bevaried, as is well known in the art. Although not essential to thepresent invention, the distance between thenip of the gate rolls and thenip of the feed-in rolls may preferably be adjusted to be slightlygreater than the expected maximum fiber length of the fibers in thesliver. For example, if the fibers in the slivers 23 and 24 have anexpected maximum length of two inches, then the distance between the nipof the gate rolls and the nip of fibers at'the extreme end. i

the feedrolls may preferablyibe made slightly greater than two inches.This allows the sliver 23 or 24" to be pulled apart, as will bedescribed, without actually breaking the individual fibers, or at leastbreaking only those relatively few fibers which exceed the expectedmaximum length. I

The upi fir two-part gate roller 26 is driven intermittently by anysuitable'means, at intervals which are controlled according to thesection lengths desired for the successive sections of the compositecontinuous yarn to Solely for the purpose of illustratingone form ofsuitable intermittent drive, thejshafts of thergate rollers 26' and 27are shown to be connected together by the meshed spur gears 46 and 47',and the upper roller as is shown to be driven intermittently by a chaindrive 37 having In FIG. 1, the chain lug 38 is shown to be approaching,I

but not in driving engagement-with, the lug 39, and, ac

.cordingly, the gate rollers 26 and 27 are stationaryh The angularposition of the upper roller 26 atithis moment is l feed-in rolls 29, orat least suifieiently into the trumpet so that the fibers at thetrailing tapered end of the white sliver will carry the black fibersinto the nip of the feed-in'rolls. V a a At the conclusion of 180 'ofcounter-clockwise rota- 7 tion of rollers 26, 2'7, from the positionindicated in FIGS.

'6 and 7, the lug 3-8 of drivefchain 37' discontinues its engagementwith the lug39 of roller 26, and the rotation of the gate rollers 26 and27 then terminates leaving the roller parts 26a and 26b infthe angularpositions shown in FIGS. 4,11 and 12. The white'sliver 24 is now pinchedby the pressure of the stopped rollers 26b and 27. As

the feed-in rolls 29 and 36 continue to rotate, they continue to drawthe white sliver forward, and this sliver, being stop-pinched at the nipof the gate rollers, becomes so stretched and strained that it.seversbetween the pinch point and the nip of the rolls 29, 3t), asindicated in i -4. As already mentioned, this desired result mayexpected length of the fibers in the sliver.

'thestrained sliver becomes completely severed, few if any of thefibersof the sliver" are actually broken. The

shown in perspective, partly broken away,,in FIG. 6,, V

and is shown'in elevationin FIGS. 7zand 8 in which FIG. .7 showstheroller part 26a and FIG, 8 shows the roller part 26b. As seen inFIGS. 6 and 7, the full-diameter portion of the upper roller part 26a isin engagement with the peripher al'surface of the lower roller 27. Sincethe-rollers 26 and 27. arenot' rotating, the black sliver 23 is pinchedbetween the roller part 26a and'theroller 2'7, and as thefeed-in rolls29, 3t). continue'to rotate, the

pinched blackv sliver 23 becomes stretched and strained, and then seversor parts completely between the pinch .point and the feed-in rollersv29$, 3t), with theoretically one-half of the fibers extending forwardlyof the pinch" point for varying lengths, forming a terminal portion Iwhich tapers from full size at-the pinch point to butia few i V r thenow severed white sliver 24 forward through the conpoint forward.

be facilitated by locating the gate rollers 26 and 2'7 ahead of thefeed-in rolls 29 and 3t? by such distance that the sliver distancebetween the nips of these two pairs of rolls 26,27 and 29, 39 isslightly greater than the maximum Thus, while longitudinal tension onthe sliver merely pulls the sliver apart. Those fibers whose forward endis caught in the 'nip of the feed-in rolls 2?, 3% but whose trailing endis beyond the nip of the gaterollers 26, 27 are pulled away from theother fibers of the sliverwhose forward end has not yet reached the nipof the feed-in rolls but whose rearward portion is caught in the nip ofthe now stopped gate rollers. Thus, the total number of fibers in thecross section of the. trailing portion of the severed sliver decreasesfrom the full number. at the trip of the rolls 29, 36, to, but a veryfew fibers at'the extreme end,

and the trailing portion maybe said to be tapered. Similarly, theleading end portion of thesevered sliver, which is nowpinched bythepressure of the now stopped gaterollers, has a decreasing number offibers in its cross section, and may also be said to be taperedfrorn thepinch In the present discussion, as the feed-in rolls 29, 3t) draw V thetapered forward end-of sliver 23 which have been tween the roller part26b and the lower roller 27 through Y which the White 29, 30. 7

Referring again to FIG. 1, when of chain 37 contacts the upstanding lug39 of roller part sliver 24 is drawn by the feed-in rolls the dependinglug 38.

pushed into the apex region of the trumpet by the 180 rotation of thegate rollers. The aperture of the trumpet is so sized as to merge thetapered portion of the trailing endof the severed white sliver 23 withthe tapered forward 26c, the-upper roller 264s driven counterclockwise,as"

viewed in the drawing, and the lower roller 27 is drivenclockwise,,through the meshed gears 46, 47. When this described'above,is now pushed forwardly by the pressure applred-thereto by-the rotatingroller part. 26a and roller tapered forward end-of the black sliver 23,.which had occurs, the black sliver 23, which had been stop-pinchedasprotruded forwardly of the pinch 'point, is now pushed into the forwardpart or apex of the trumpet 28 which may preferably extend forwardalmost to the nip of the feed-in rolls 29, 30 as indicated in-FIGS.7-12, and l8,

19. These fibers of the black sliver are carried along through the-apexof the trumpet into the nip of the feedin rolls 2 9, 30 by the fibers'ofthe white sliver 24 which is being drawn through the confining aperture.in the emthe gateroller part 260.

, end of the black sliver 24. a

The black sliver 23' now is exclusively drawn by the feed-in rolls 29,30 until such time as the next lug 38 of drive chain-37 encounters thenow upstanding lug 4410f When this occurs, the gate rollers 26 and 27are again driven'through 180" of rotation, as indicated in FIG. 5, 'andthe't-apered'end of the White ,sliver 124, which had been pinch-stoppedby the part 26b, .-is now pushed forwardly into the apertured apexregion of the. trumpet 28, At the conclusion of 180 of rotation,theupper gate roller 26 is' in' the angular position depicted in FIGS.6, 7 and 8, and the'roller drive ceases. The black sliver'23 isnowstop-pinchedby the .pa-rt 26a, and as the feed-in rolls 29, 30 continueto rotate and to draw theblack sliver, the black sliver 23 comes apartbetween the pinch point and the rolls 29,

3am indicated in FIGS; 6 and 7. As the feed-in rolls bodiment; shown inFIG. 1, the peripheral dimension of.

sufificient length to accomplish the'desired pushing of the taperedforward end of the black sliver into the nip of the the full diametersector of roller part :26afshould be of 29, 30'continue to draw the nowsevered black sliver 23 through the confining aperture of the trumpet28, the white fibers atthe tapcred'forwa-rd end of the'white sliver 24are carried along with the black fibers'at the trailing I 11d of'the'black;sliver 23 'into the. nip of the rolls 29a 9; d, a merg takesplace in the confining aperture of the trumpet between the taperedtrailing end portion of the black sliver 23 and the tapered forward endportion of the white sliver 24. The actions described above are repeatedand a composite sliver 34 is formed having alternate black and whitesections. This sliver may be passed through the nip of the deliveryrolls 31, 32, then through the fixed guide eye 35, and then through therotating eye 36a of a spinning frame and wound on to the bobbin 36. Asthe sliver or yarn is wound about the bobbin 36 by the rotating eye 36a,a slight twist is imparted to the yarn, which isreflected back to thenip of the delivery rolls 31, 32. This twist is indicateddiagrammatically in FIGS. 15 and 16 of the drawing, which depict thejunctions of the black and white sections at the points indicated inFIG. 1 by the dot-and-dash circles XV and XVI.

While I have shown the composite sliver 34 as being fed to a spinningframe, it will be understood that the composite sliver could be fed to adrafting or a roving frame for further drafting or blending operationsbefore being spun into a final yarn.

It will be seen that by the means disclosed, a continuous yarn may beproduced in which for a preselected length the fibers are exclusively ofone type, as provided by one supply package, followed by a section ofpreselected length in which all of the fibers in the yarn areexclusively of another type as supplied by a second supply package, andso on alternatingly. Of course, at the junction of the sections, fibersfrom both supply packages overlap.

The technique employed may be expanded to include three (or more)different supplies to form a composite sliver having three (or more)series of repeating sections of fibers of different characteristics. Insuch case, the upper gate roller 26 would be required to have three (ormore) parts each adapted to establish a pinching relation with the lowergate roller for a different 120 of peripheral surface.

In FIG. 1, the merging device for bringing the fibers of one sliver intomerging relationship with the fibers of the second sliver is representedas being the trumpet 28 having a confining aperture at the apex thereof.In lieu of a trumpet, the merging device could, as illustrated in FIG.17, preferably be formed from a moving endless belt or apron 51 havingmounted thereabove, in proximity there to, an open bottom Y-shapedchannel member 52, having a confining throat at the forward end thereof.The apron 51 may be driven by the delivery rolls 29, 30. In this form ofmerging device, the fibers at the forward end of the sliver which hadpreviously been pinch-stopped by the gate rollers 26, 27, and which arenow pushed for ward by the rotation of the gate rollers, are carriedinto the merging device, into the throat at the forward end thereof, andinto the nip of the rolls 29, 30, by the forward movement of the apron.Thus, in this form, the

, peripheral dimensions of the full-diameter sectors of the gate-rollerparts 26a and 26b need only be long enough to push the tapered forwardend of the sliver on to the apron 51.

. invention that the alternating sections of yarn be of equal length.The intermittent drive may be arranged to provide sections of differentlengths;

While the preferred embodiment of this invention has been described insome detail, it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that variousmodifications may be made without departing from the invention ashereinafter claimed.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Apparatus for producing continuous composite textile yarn comprisedof a repeating pattern of successive sections of fibers having differentcharacteristics, said apparatus comprising: means for supplying a firstsliver of fibers having a first characteristic; means for supplying asecond sliver of fibers having a second characteristic; a drafting stageincluding a pair of back nip rolls; first and second complementarypressure roller gate means disposed rearward of said back nip rolls andforward of said first and second supply means for applying pressureselectively to one or the other of said first and second slivers forcontrolling the forward movement of said slivers toward said back niprolls; merging means disposed between said gate means and said back niprolls and into which the output of said gate means is convergingly fed,said merging means including a confining aperture sized to merge saidslivers; and intermittent means for operating said complementarypressure roller gate means at selected intervals to control selectivelythe feed of said first and second slivers into said merging means; saidcomplementary pressure roller gate means including an upper and a lowerroller, the upper one having first and second coaxial portions adjacentto each other, each of said adjacent portions having a full diametersector and a reduced diameter sector, the full diameter sectors of saidadjacent portions being disposed .at different angular positionsrelative to each other, the full diameter sector of each portion beingof a dimension to engage with the peripheral surface of the lower of thepressure gate rollers.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the fulldiameter sector of each of said adjacent portions is less than 3.Apparatus according to claim 2 characterized in that the means foroperating the pressure roller gate means comprises intermittent drivemeans for rotating the pressure rollers through 180 at selectedintervals.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 characterized in that said mergingmeans comprises a V-shaped structure having its Wide end facing thepressure gate rollers and having a confining aperture at its apexthrough which the sliver is drawn by said back nip rolls.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 further characterized in that the gaterollers are so disposed in front of the back nip rolls that the sliverdistance between the nip of the gate rollers and the nip of the back niprolls is greater than the maximum length of most of the fibers in thesliver.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 further characterized in that saidV-shaped structure has an open bottom, and in that an endless conveyorbelt is mounted just below said V-shaped structure for carrying thesliver toward said confining aperture.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 further characterized in that theperipheral length of the full diameter sector of each of thecomplementary gate roller portions is at least as long as the distancebetween the nip of the gate rollers and said endless belt.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 320,344 6/85Fuyat et al. 57-383 928,830 7/09 Wood 57-383 928,831 7/09 Wood 57-1393,082,593 3/63 .Rhyne 57-139 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CONTINUOUS COMPOSITE TEXTILE YARN COMPRISESOF A REPEATING PATTERN OF SUCCESSIVE SECTIONS OF FIBERS HAVING DIFFERENTCHARACTERISTICS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: MEANS FOR SUPPLYING A FIRSTSILVERY OF FIBERS HAVING A FIRST CHARACTERISTIC; MEANS FOR SUPPLYING ASECOND SILVER OF FIBERS HAVING A SECOND CHARACTERISTIC; A DRAFTING STAGEINCLUDING A PAIR OF BACK NIP ROLLS; FIRST AND SECOND COMPLEMENTARYPRESSURE ROLLER GATE MEANS DISPOSED REARWARD OF SAID BACK NIP ROLLS ANDFORWARD OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SUPPLY MEANS FOR SUPPLYING PRESSURESELECTIVELY TO ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SILVERS FORCONTROLLING THE FORWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID SILVERS TOWARD SAID BACK NIPROLLS; MERGING MEANS DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID GATE MEANS AND SAID BACK NIPROLLS AND INTO WHICH THE OUTPUT OF SAID GATE MEANS IS CONVERGINGLY FED,SAID MERGING MEANS INCLUDING A CONFINING APERTURE SIZED TO MERGE SAIDSILVERS; AND INTERMITTENT MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID COMPLEMENTARYPRESSURE ROLLER GATE MEANS AT SELECTED INTERVALS TO CONTROL SELECTIVELYTHE FEED OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SILVERS INTO SAID MERGING MEANS; SAIDCOMPLEMENTARY PRESSURE ROLLS GATE MEANS INCLUDING AN UPPER AND A LOWERROLLER, THE UPPER ONE HAVING FIRST AND SECOND COAXIAL PORTIONS ADJACENTTO EACH OTHER, EACH OF SAID ADJACENT PORTIONS HAVING A FULL DIAMETERSECTOR AND A REDUCED DIAMETER SECTOR, THE FULL DIAMETER SECTORS OF SAIDADJACENT PORTIONS BEING DISPOSED AT DIFFERENT ANGULAR POSITIONS RELATIVETO EACH OTHER; THE FULL DIAMETER SECTOR OF EACH PORTION BEING OF ADIMENSION TO ENGAGE WITH THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE LOWER OF THEPRESSURE GATE ROLLERS.